NAME
fluxbox - A lightweight window manager for the X Windowing System
SYNOPSIS
fluxbox [-rc rcfile] [-log logfile] [-display display] [-screen
all|scr,scr...] [-verbose] [-sync]
fluxbox [-v | -version] | [-h | -help] | [-i | -info] |
[-list-commands]
DESCRIPTION
fluxbox(1) is a window manager. As such it provides configurable window
decorations, a root menu to launch applications and a toolbar that
shows the current workspace name, a set of application names and the
current time. There is also a workspace menu to add or remove
workspaces.
Fluxbox can iconify (or minimize) windows to the toolbar One click and
they reappear. A double-click on the titlebar of the window will shade
it; i.e. the window will disappear, and only the titlebar will remain
visible.
There are also two areas commonly used by small applets: the 'slit' can
be used to dock small applications; e.g. most of the "bbtools" and
"Window Maker dockapps" can use the slit, and the 'systray' which lives
in the toolbar supports standard system tray icons provided by some
applications.
Fluxbox uses its own graphics class to render its images on the fly. By
using style files, you can determine in great detail how your desktop
looks. fluxbox styles are compatible with those of Blackbox 0.65 or
earlier versions, so users migrating can still use their current
favourite themes.
Most of the default keyboard and mouse button actions mentioned in this
manual can be changed and configured in the 'keys' file. This powerful
configuration file can also be used to automate almost any action you
may want to perform, from launching applications to moving windows
around the screen. See fluxbox-keys(5) for details.
Fluxbox can also remember certain attributes of individual application
windows and restore these settings the next time the window opens. See
the fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
Fluxbox supports the majority of the Extended Window Manager Hints
(EWMH) specification, as well as numerous other Window Hinting
standards. This allows all compliant window managers to provide a
common interface to standard features used by applications and desktop
utilities.
OPTIONS
-display display
Start fluxbox on the specified display. Programs started by fluxbox
will share the DISPLAY environment variable also.
-h, -help
Display command line options.
-i, -info
Display useful information concerning the defaults and compiled-in
options.
-log logfile
Starting fluxbox with this option will designate a file in which
you want to log events to.
-rc rcfile
Use a different config file other than the default
\~/.fluxbox/init.
-v, -version
The version of fluxbox installed.
-screen all|scr,scr...
Run on specified screens only or all (by default).
-verbose
Print more information in process.
-sync
Synchronize with the X server for debugging.
-list-commands
Lists all available internal commands.
STARTING FLUXBOX
fluxbox(1) comes with a program called startfluxbox(1) usually located
wherever you installed fluxbox. This script provides you with many
options and variables that can be set when starting fluxbox. To
actually call fluxbox and begin using it, you should place "exec
startfluxbox" in your ~/.xinitrc as the last executed command. This is
assuming that the location of fluxbox(1) and startfluxbox(1) are in
your shell's $PATH. Also note that you may need to create the
~/.xinitrc file or your setup may use \~/.xsession instead, depending
on your X setup. Some X login managers like gdm(1) or kdm(1) may simply
provide a "Fluxbox" session for you without having to alter any
settings.
By using fluxbox -i you'll see the defaults used by fluxbox(1). These
are what fluxbox looks for upon startup. In the list of "Defaults:"
you'll see a menu file location, this is where you can provide a
system-wide menu file for your users.
On exit or restart, fluxbox will save user defaults in the file
\~/.fluxbox/init. Resources in this file can also be edited by hand,
see the RESOURCES section for more details. fluxbox(1) also has many
tools to edit these; look through the main menu once fluxbox has
started to find different ways of managing your session.
USING FLUXBOX
When using fluxbox for the first time, users who are more accustomed to
full desktop environments such as KDE or Gnome may be a little
surprised by the minimal screen content. fluxbox is designed to be fast
and powerful, so it may take a bit of getting used to -- however, the
rewards are worthwhile.
In this section, we'll give a quick summary of the common things.
However, we recommend that you consult the referenced sections of this
manual to further develop your understanding of what you can do with
fluxbox.
Root Window (Main)
Looking at the fluxbox desktop immediately after startup you'll
generally see only one thing: the toolbar. If you right-click (mouse
button 3) somewhere on the desktop, you can access the Root Menu. A
middle-click (mouse button 2) on the desktop shows you the Workspace
Menu.
Root Menu and Workspace Menu
From the RootMenu you can launch applications and configure fluxbox.
The WorkspaceMenu shows all windows and on which workspaces they are.
See section MENUS on how to customize these menus.
Toolbar
The toolbar contains any combination of the following tools, by default
in this order:
o Workspace Name: Name of the current visible workspace
o Workspace Arrows: Previous/Next Workspace
o Iconbar: List of windows managed by fluxbox
o Window Arrows: Previous/Next Application Window
o System Tray: Area for applets
o Clock: Date and Time
The contents and behavior of the toolbar can be configured, see the
TOOLBAR section for details.
Slit
Initially you won't be able to see the slit. It is there, but it isn't
being used yet, which confuses some people initially. Think of it as a
dock where you can place smaller programs. If you've looked at any
screenshots on the official fluxbox web site, you will have noticed
some small programs on the edge of some of the screens. These were more
than likely docked programs in the slit. To learn more about the slit,
we have an entire SLIT section below that goes into detail about the
options you have.
Layers
fluxbox manages the following layers (from highest to lowest):
o Above Dock
o Dock
o Top
o Normal
o Bottom
o Desktop
Windows on a higher layer will always appear above those on a lower
one. These layers can be used on application windows, the slit or the
toolbar. You can assign applications to a certain layer by specifying
it in the 'apps' file or through the WindowMenu. We discuss the 'apps'
file in fluxbox-apps(5). We discuss the WindowMenu in the MENUS
section. We discuss layers in more detail in the LAYERS section.
Focus Model
The window that has the focus is the one that receives key and mouse
events. The focus model is selectable via the Configuration menu
located in the root menu. We'll discuss the different types of focus
below in the FOCUS MODEL section.
Windows
A left-click (mouse button 1) on any part of the window's border will
raise it. Dragging then moves the window to another part of the
desktop. A right click and drag on the border resizes the window.
Dragging the resize grips at the left and right bottom corners also
will resize the window. Middle clicking on a border or titlebar will
immediately lower the window. Right clicking on the titlebar opens the
Window menu. The commands unique to this menu are discussed in detail
in the Window Menu section.
Tabs
fluxbox allows windows to be 'grouped' by middle clicking and holding
on a window's tab and dragging it onto another window. This 'tabbing'
allows you to put multiple applications in one location on the desktop
and do several operations (for example, moving or resizing) to all
windows in the group. By default, tabs are located just above the
window, but they may be embedded in the titlebar or moved to other
locations on the outside of the window. Configuration is discussed in
TAB OPTIONS section.
You can also set up automatic grouping using the 'apps' file. See GROUP
SECTIONS in fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
Key Bindings
There are a number of key bindings set up by default, which can be
configured and extended to just about anything you can imagine with the
keyboard. See fluxbox-keys(5) for details on how to do this.
The default bindings set up by fluxbox are as follows:
Mouse clicks on the empty desktop:
o Left-click (Button 1): hides all fluxbox menus
o Middle-click (Button 2): shows the Workspace Menu
o Right-click (Button 3): shows the Root Menu
o Scroll wheel (Buttons 4 and 5): jump to the previous/next
workspace
Mouse gestures on a window:
o ALT+Drag Left-click anywhere on a window moves the window.
o ALT+Drag Right-click anywhere on a window resizes the window.
o ALT+Middle-click anywhere on a window lowers the current window.
Mouse gestures on a window's titlebar:
o CTRL+Drag Left-click on a window's titlebar lets you drag to
attach the window to another's tab group
o Double Left-click on a window's titlebar shades the window
o Middle-click on a window's titlebar lowers the window
o Right-click on a window's titlebar pops up the Window Menu
Mouse gestures on the toolbar:
o Scroll wheel on the toolbar cycles through windows
Keyboard bindings:
o ALT+Tab / ALT+Shift+Tab: Cycle through windows
o WIN+Tab / WIN+Shift+Tab: Cycle through tabs
o Win+1 -> Win+9: Select the 1st -> 9th tab in the current window
o ALT+F1: Run xterm(1) to open a new terminal
o ALT+F2: Run fbrun(1) for a small "run program" dialog
o ALT+F4: Close the current window
o ALT+F5: Kill the current window (like xkill(1))
o ALT+F9: Minimize (iconify) the current window
o ALT+F10: Maximize the current window
o ALT+F11: Full-screen the current window
o ALT+Space: Open the Window Menu
o CTRL+ALT+Del: Exit fluxbox (log out)
o CTRL+ALT+Left / CTRL+ALT+Right: Go to the previous/next workspace
o WIN+Left / WIN+Right: Send the current window to the previous/next
workspace, but remain on this workspace
o CTRL+WIN+Left / CTRL+WIN+Right: Take the current window to the
previous/next workspace, and switch to that workspace
o CTRL+F1 -> CTRL+F12: Switch to the 1st -> 12th workspace
o WIN+F1 -> WIN+F12: Send the current window to a specific workspace
o CTRL+WIN+F1 -> CTRL+WIN+F12: Take the current window to a specific
workspace
MENUS
fluxbox provides a popup menu facility that is used by a few different
types of native menus.
When a menu is open, you can click on items with the mouse to activate
them. Some special menu items react slightly differently depending on
the mouse button you use, but normally you will want to use a
left-click (button 1).
You can also use the the keyboard arrow key to navigate, or even type
the first few letters of the item's label to select it, and "enter" to
activate the item.
Normally activating a menu item should close the menu. You can also
right-click the title are of a menu or press "esc" to close it without
activating an item.
Root Menu
The root menu is where you can launch commonly-used applications and
change different aspects of fluxbox by simply clicking on a menu item.
By default it is opened by a right-click on the empty area of the
desktop.
The contents of this menu can be configured, see fluxbox-menu(5) for
details.
The default menu, which is created by the "fluxbox-generate_menu"
command, contains menus for installed applications, as well as a
special "Fluxbox menu" item with the items detailed below:
Configure
The next level under this menu is where you can set certain
resources and really begin to customize the look and feel of your
desktop. See the Configure Menu section below for more details.
System Styles
This is where the standard styles are listed. You can select one of
these by clicking on it, and it will be applied immediately. System
styles are located in /usr/share/fluxbox/styles/ upon a default
install. Remember that you can confirm this with fluxbox -i.
User Styles
This is where your custom styles are listed. It will list any
styles from \~/.fluxbox/styles/, which may be styles you grab
from the Internet, or your own custom styles, provided you
follow the standards described in fluxbox-style(5).
Workspace List
This is the same as the Workspace Menu detailed below.
Tools
Listed here are different tools that you can use. You can
rename your workspace, run programs from a command line or
regenerate your menu.
Window Managers
Allows you to switch your window manager. (Only listed if you
have other window managers/desktop environments installed.)
Lock Screen
Locks the screen, if a suitable locking program has been
detected.
Fluxbox Command
A little Commandline will popup where you can enter a fluxbox
command. These commands are the same as those detailed in
fluxbox-keys(5).
Reload config
Use this to reload the fluxbox configuration files. You must do
this after editing the 'keys' file, 'init' file, or the current
style.
Restart
Restart the whole darn thing. This starts a completely new
fluxbox process, rereads files and redraws all graphical
elements. Running applications will remain open, however, and
restored to the same workspaces they were previously in once
fluxbox returns.
Exit
Exits fluxbox, which in turn either shuts down the X Window
server or returns you to the graphical login screen.
Configuration Menu
This menu offers the opportunity to set up fluxbox. It contains many
options which can be altered manually in the 'init' file, but this is
an easier and faster way to change the most common settings.
All changes take effect immediately.
Focus Model
Lets you configure the window focus model. For details, see FOCUS
MODEL, below.
Maximize Options
Lets you configure what happens when you maximize a window. The
four options are:
Full Maximization:
Normally, a maximized window will not overlap the toolbar,
slit, or any docked windows (like panels). Enabling this option
allows maximized windows to be as large as the actual screen
resolution.
Ignore Resize Increment:
Normally, terminal windows specify a "resize increment" which
mean fluxbox will only resize the window to an even multiple of
the character size. Enabling this option will ignore this
specification when maximizing.
Disable Moving / Disable Resizing:
Normally, maximized windows can still be moved and resized.
Enabling these options prevents these behaviour.
Tab Options
Lets you configure the properties of tabs. Detailed in TAB OPTIONS,
below.
Slit
This menu can also be found by right-clicking the slit (if
visible). Find more information about this menu's options in the
Slit Menu section, below.
Toolbar
This menu can also be found by right-clicking any non-icon part of
the toolbar. Find more information about this menu's options in the
Toolbar Menu section, below.
Transparency
This sets the default transparency for a focused windows, unfocused
window and the menu. Use the left mouse button to decrease and the
right mouse button to increase the value. 0 is invisible, 255 is
not transparent at all.
The transparency of individual application windows can be
overridden in the 'apps' file (fluxbox-apps(5)).
The Force Pseudo Transparency option will force fluxbox to ignore
the xcomposite extension and use pseudo-transparency instead of
true transparency. Note: When pseudo-transparency is on, the
transparency values here only affect titlebars, not window
contents.
Opaque Window Moving
If enabled, you will see the window content while dragging it.
Otherwise only an outline of the window will be shown.
Workspace Warping
If enabled, you can drag windows from one workspace to another. The
previous workspace is to the left, the next workspace is to the
right.
Window Menu
The Window menu is displayed when you right click on the titlebar of a
window.
To customize this menu, see the WINDOW MENU section of fluxbox-menu(5).
By default, this menu contains:
Shade
Shade the window (display the titlebar only).
Stick
(Un)Stick window. A 'stuck' window will always be displayed on all
workspaces.
Send To...
Send window to another workspace. When you select the workspace
with a middle click, fluxbox will send you along with the
application to the selected workspace.
Maximize
(Un)Maximize window. Depending on your toolbar and slit
configuration, maximize may cover them. You can use the different
mouse buttons for different aspects of maximize function.
o Button 1 (Un)Maximize as normal.
o Button 2 (Un)Maximize window vertically.
o Button 3 (Un)Maximize window horizontally.
Iconify
Iconify (or minimize) a window. The 'icon' can be found in the
Icons submenu of the workspace menu as well as in the toolbar (if a
Toolbar mode showing Icons is selected).
Raise
Raise the window above all others in the same layer.
Lower
Lower the window below all others in the same layer.
Layer...
Change the layer of this window. See LAYERS for more details.
Transparency
Change this window's transparency, overriding the defaults from the
Configuration Menu.
Remember...
Specify which window settings should be stored in the 'apps' file
and resumed the next time this window is opened.
Specifically the setting you may store are:
Workpace:
Open this in the same workspace as where the window currently
resides.
Jump to workspace:
When Workspace is selected, fluxbox will jump to the
appropriate workspace when this window is opened there. If not
selected, the window will open in the background.
Head:
For xinerama users only, start this window on the current head
(or screen).
Dimensions:
Record the current window height and width.
Position:
Record the current X and Y coordinates of the window.
Sticky:
Record whether the window is on all desktops, or not.
Decorations:
Record the current set of decorations (title bar, grips, tabs,
etc) on the window.
Shaded:
Record whether the window is shaded (or rolled-up) or not.
Minimized:
Record whether the window is iconified (or minimized) or not.
Maximized:
Record whether the window is maximized or not.
Fullscreen:
Record whether the window is in fullscreen mode or not.
Transparency:
Record the current Transparency settings.
Layer:
Record the current layer.
Save on close:
If selected, any of the above items which are also selected
will be updated with the window's current values as it is
closed.
These are is covered in more detail in fluxbox-apps(5).
Close
Close the application softly.
Kill
Kill the window's parent process, like xkill(1).
Workspace Menu
The workspace menu can be found, by default, by middle-clicking on the
background. This menu contains entries to explore the currently defined
workspaces, windows, and add/remove/rename workspaces.
Icons
This menu shows any iconified (or, minimized) windows. Clicking on
a window in this menu will raise it on the current workspace.
Workspaces
The next section provides one submenu per workspace.
Middle-clicking on a workspace name will take you to that
workspace. The submenu contains a list of all open windows on that
workspace. Clicking on a window name will take you to that window
and raise it, changing the active workspace if necessary.
New Workspace
This entry adds a new workspace to the end of the list of current
workspaces.
Edit current workspace name
Pops up a dialog to enter a new name for the current workspace.
Remove Last
Remove the last workspace in the list. Any windows curretly open
there will be sent to the next-to-last workspace.
TOOLBAR
The toolbar is a small area to display information like a clock,
workspace name, a system tray or a taskbar (iconbar) that can contain
the running programs. The color, look, font etc. is defined in the
STYLE.
The tools in the toolbar can be enabled/disabled in the 'init' file
with the session.screen0.toolbar.tools resource. See the RESOURCES
section for details on how to alter this value.
The possible tools are:
Clock
This will show an area to display a clock and the date according to
the format specification listed in "man strtftime"
Iconbar
This is the area that contains all windows (all running
applications, all minimized windows or maybe no window, all
depending on the Toolbar Settings).
Systemtray
The Systemtray can hold applications that are made to use it.
WorkspaceName
This displays the name of the current workspace.
PrevWorkspace
This displays an arrow that allows to switch to the workspace left
of the current one.
NextWorkspace
This displays an arrow that allows to switch to the workspace right
of the current one.
PrevWindow
This displays an arrow that switches focus to the previous visible
window on the current workspace.
NextWindow
This displays an arrow that switches focus to the next visible
window on the current workspace.
Other aspects of the toolbar can be configured in two ways: through the
toolbar menu, which is accessible in the Configuration part of the
RootMenu or with a right click on the edge the toolbar, or by editing
the init file (see the RESOURCES section for more information about
that).
Toolbar Menu
This menu can be opened by right-clicking on the toolbar (though not on
a window's name in the iconbar), or from the Configuration Menu.
All changes take effect immediately. Here are the settings:
Visible
Sets the toolbar either to visible or invisible.
Auto hide
If this is enabled the toolbar will disappear after a defined time
when the mouse pointer leaves the toolbar. It will slide in when
the cursor hits the remaining edge of the toolbar. See the
session.autoRaiseDelay resource for the delay time.
Toolbar width percentage
Sets the width of the toolbar in a percentage of your total screen
size. Use the left mouse button to decrease and the right
mouse-button to increase the value. The value can be from 1-100.
Maximize Over
Enabling this option will allow windows to maximize over the
toolbar. With this switched on they will only expand to the edge of
the bar. This option may be overridden by the "Full Maximization"
from the Configuration Menu. If that option is enabled, this option
will have no effect..
Layer...
This sets the layer on which the toolbar is set. With this you can
set the toolbar to "Always on top".
Placement
Sets the toolbar to any edge of the screen, either centered or
aligned with a corner.
Alpha
This sets the alpha value for the toolbar. Use the left mouse
button to decrease and the right mouse button to increase the
value. 0 is invisible, 255 is not transparent at all.
Iconbar Mode
Specifies various modes of the iconbar's operation.
The first section outlines what types of windows will be shown in
the iconbar:
None:
Will not show any windows
Icons:
Shows windows from all workspaces that are iconified (or,
minimized)
NoIcons:
Shows windows from all workspaces that are not iconified
WorkspaceIcons:
Shows windows from the current workspace that are iconified
WorkspaceNoIcons:
Shows windows from the current workspace that are not iconified
Workspace:
Shows all windows (iconified or not) from the current workspace
All Windows:
Shows all windows (iconified or not) from all workspaces
The next section specifies the alignment of the window names shown
in the iconbar. The with is specified via the
session.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth resource:
Left:
All icons will be left-aligned with the width set in the 'init'
file
Relative:
All icons will be sized evenly to fill the iconbar completely
Right:
All icons will be right-aligned with the width set in the
'init' file
The last option in this submenu is:
Show Pictures:
If enabled the iconbar will show the application's icon (if
provided by the application)
Clock
Lets you switch between the 00:00am - 11:59pm and 00:00 - 23:59
notation
Edit Clock Format
clicking this entry will pop up a dialog window in which the clock
format can be set according to man strftime (or man date).
FOCUS MODEL
The Focus Model defines how windows gain focus (i.e. become the active
window, which receives keyboard and mouse events). The focus model can
be changed in the configuration menu (usually located under fluxbox
menu in the Root Menu.
There are two main aspects of the focus model: how windows gain focus
and how tabs gain focus. Each of these has two options: focus follows
mouse and click to focus. Focus follows mouse means that windows will
gain focus when the mouse hovers over them. Click to focus means that
windows will gain focus when the mouse clicks on them.
Thus, there are four main options when choosing a focus model. You
should choose one of the first two and one of the last two. They are:
Click To Focus
Click to focus windows.
Mouse Focus
Window focus follows mouse.
ClickTabFocus
Click to focus tabs.
MouseTabFocus
Tab focus follows mouse.
There are three more settings in the "Focus Model" menu:
Focus New Windows
If enabled, a new window will grab X focus as soon as it is opened.
Auto Raise
If enabled, focusing on a new window will automatically raise
that window above all others within its layer. When disabled,
you must explicitly raise a focused window using the window
menu, keybinding, or Click Raises.
Click Raises
If enabled, clicking anywhere on a window will raise it above
all others within its layer.
TAB OPTIONS
This section of fluxbox configuration menu lets you configure many
features of tabs. Inside of it there are three main options:
Placement
You can choose where the external tabs will be positioned relative
to the window. For these options to work, Tabs in Titlebar must be
off.
Tabs in Titlebar
When this option is on, tabs are fixed in window titlebar and the
width varies according to the amount of windows grouped.
Maximize Over
When this option is on, maximizing a window will disregard the size
and location of external tabs, which means they may be pushed out
of the screen entirely.
External Tab Width
This specifies in pixels the width of external tabs.
STYLES
fluxbox enables you to use specialized files that contain X(1)
resources to specify colors, textures, pixmaps and fonts, and thus the
overall look of your window borders, menus and the toolbar.
The default installation of fluxbox provides some of these style files.
See fluxbox-style(5) to accommodate the growing number of style
components.
Style Overlay
In addition to the style file, the overlay file, whose location is
specified by session.screen0.styleOverlay (default:
\~/.fluxbox/overlay) can be used to set style resources that override
all styles. For more information about which parts of fluxbox can be
controlled by the overlay file, see fluxbox-style(5).
THE SLIT
The slit is a special fluxbox window frame that can contain dockable
applications, such as "bbtools" or "window maker dockapps".
When applications are run in the slit they have no window borders of
their own; instead they are framed in the slit, and they are always
visible in the current workspace.
Most dockable applications use the -w option to run in the slit. For
example, you could put in your \~/.fluxbox/startup:
bbmail -w &
bbpager -w &
wmdrawer &
exec fluxbox
To use the slit you must have it compiled into fluxbox. This is the
default setting.
Slit Menu
This menu can be opened by right-clicking on the slit (though not on an
application running within the slit), or from the Configuration Menu.
All changes take effect immediately. Here are the settings:
Placement
This lets you set the position of the slit.
Layer
See LAYERS for details on the layer order.
Auto hide
If this is enabled the slit will disappear after a defined time
when the mouse pointer leaves the slit. It will slide in when the
cursor hits the remaining edge of the slit. See the
session.autoRaiseDelay resource for the delay time.
Maximize Over
Enabling this option will allow windows to maximizing over the
slit. With this switched off they will only expand to the edge of
the slit. This option may be overridden by the "Full Maximization"
from the Configuration Menu. If that option is enabled, this option
will have no effect..
Alpha
This sets the alpha value for the slit. Use the left mouse button
to decrease and the right mouse button to increase the value. 0 is
invisible, 255 is not transparent at all.
Clients
This submenu lets you reorder the the applications running in the
slit. You are able to hide apps from the slit by unselecting them
in the list showing. This will not kill the app. You can make them
re-appear by selecting them in the list. The "Save SlitList" option
saves the new order to you slitlist located in
\~/.fluxbox/slitlist. See the next section for details.
Slitlist File
fluxbox's slitlist file is available for those that use dockapps in the
slit. This file helps fluxbox keep track of the order of the dockapps
when in the slit. The file is generally located at
\~/.fluxbox/slitlist.
A simple procedure for getting the slit sequences the way you like it
is: 1. Run fluxbox with no pre-loaded dockapps 2. Run dockapps
individually in the order you want them 3. Add dockapps to your
startfluxbox(1) script
This sequence will be saved by default to \~/.fluxbox/slitlist and will
be remembered for future instances of fluxbox.
Users are free to manually edit the slitlist file. It is a simple list
of window names, as given by xprop(1), one per dockapp. Similar to the
init file it should not be edited while fluxbox is running. Otherwise
changes may get overwritten.
The user also has the option of choosing a different path for the
slitlist file, by setting the session.session0.slitlistFile resource.
LAYERS
Layers affect the way that windows will overlap each other on the
screen. Windows on a higher layer will always appear above those on a
lower one, whether they are focused or not. By default, fluxbox uses 13
layers, starting from 1 (highest). The total number of layers can be
changed by using the session.numLayers resource.
There are two ways to assign a window to a different layer. When the
window is open, you may select the layer in the 'Layer ...' submenu of
the window menu. The menu gives six choices for the layer, which
fluxbox manages by name. The names are (from highest to lowest layer):
o 2 - Above Dock
o 4 - Dock
o 6 - Top
o 8 - Normal
o 10 - Bottom
o 12 - Desktop
The other way to set the layer for a window is through the 'apps' file.
This method is described in fluxbox-apps(5).
RESOURCES
Usually the \~/.fluxbox/init resource file is created and maintained by
fluxbox itself. You can use the Configure Menu, mentioned above, to set
most of these options. However, we'll cover all of the resource options
that are available to the user. If you edit this file while fluxbox is
running, you must "reconfigure" to reload the resource options.
When running fluxbox in a multiple-screen environment the screen0 key
can also be screen1, screen2, to customize the behavior of fluxbox on
each desktop accordingly. Here are the resources that are currently
available:
session.screen0.window.{focus|unfocus}.alpha: integer
These resources are available to the user to set different levels
of transparency for different components of fluxbox. Each one
accepts a value between 0-255, 255 being opaque and 0 being
completely transparent.
Default: 255
session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.autoHide: boolean
The autoHide resources allow the user to set the behavior of the
toolbar and slit. This behavior can be that they disappear when
they are not being used actively by the user, or they remain
visible at all times.
Default: False
session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.layer: layer
With these two resources, you can set the layer you want the
toolbar and the slit to appear on. Please read the LAYER section
for more information.
Default: Dock
session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.placement: placement
These allow users to place the slit and toolbar where they like.
Possible options are:
BottomLeft BottomCenter BottomRight LeftBottom LeftCenter
LeftTop RightBottom RightCenter RightTop TopLeft TopCenter
TopRight
Slit default: TopRight
Toolbar default: BottomCenter
session.screen0.{slit|toolbar|tabs}.maxOver: boolean
Setting these to True will allow application windows to maximize
over the complete screen. Setting to False allows the slit,
toolbar, and external tabs to hold their territory and will always
be visible when an application is maximized.
Default: False
session.screen0.toolbar.height: integer
Set the height of the toolbar. If the value is set to 0, the style
file will gain control over the toolbar height. It is possible to
set a fixed height by changing this value to something greater than
0.
Default: 0
session.screen0.toolbar.visible: boolean
The user can set whether they want to have a toolbar on screen at
all. Setting to False removes the toolbar from the screen.
Default: True
session.screen0.toolbar.widthPercent: integer
This resource sets the width percentage of the toolbar on the
screen.
Default: 100
session.screen0.toolbar.tools: tools
This resource specifies the tools plugged into the toolbar. Read
the TOOLBAR section in this manual for a description of each of
these. They may be specified in any order, delimited by the ,
character. They will appear in the order given.
Possible tools:
clock iconbar nextwindow prevwindow nextworkspace prevworkspace
systemtray workspacename
Default:
workspacename, prevworkspace, nextworkspace, iconbar,
prevwindow, nextwindow, systemtray, clock
session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.onhead: integer
For those that use xinerama, users can set this value to the number
of the head where they would like to see the slit and toolbar,
starting from 1. Setting this to 0 will ignore xinerama
information.
Default: 0 for slit, 1 for toolbar
session.screen0.iconbar.mode: pattern
This determines which windows will be displayed in the iconbar. Any
window pattern is acceptable. See the section CLIENT PATTERNS in
either fluxbox-keys(5) or fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
Default: {static groups} (workspace)
session.screen0.iconbar.usePixmap: boolean
This is also set in the Iconbar Mode menu. When set to True, this
will show the native icon of applications.
Default: True
session.screen0.iconbar.iconTextPadding: integer
This specifies the space between the window title and the edge of
the button.
Default: 10
session.screen0.iconbar.alignment: position
This value should be changed in the Iconbar Mode menu.
Available options:
o Left: Fixed width, aligned left
o Relative: Width varies to fill the iconbar
o Right: Fixed width, aligned right
Default: Relative
session.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth: integer
Used to specify the iconbar button width for Left/Right alignment.
Default: 128
session.screen0.strftimeFormat: date
This adjusts the way the current time is displayed in the toolbar.
The strftime(3) format is used.
Default: %I:%M %p
session.screen0.tabs.intitlebar: boolean
This specifies whether tabs should be embedded in the titlebar or
placed outside the window.
Default: True
session.screen0.tab.placement: placement
This specifies where external tabs will appear on the window. It
has the same possible values as
sesion.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.placement.
Default: TopLeft
session.screen0.tab.width: integer
This specifies the width of external tabs in pixels.
Default: 64
session.screen0.focusModel: ClickToFocus|MouseFocus|StrictMouseFocus
This controls how windows gain focus via the mouse. With
'ClickToFocus', the user must click on the window. With
'MouseFocus', windows gain focus whenever the mouse moves over
them, but only when the mouse is moving. With 'StrictMouseFocus',
windows gain focus whenever the mouse enters any exposed area, even
if this is due to layer changes, window movement, changing
desktops, closing windows, etc.
Default: ClickToFocus
session.screen0.autoRaise: boolean
When True, this setting automatically raises any window that gains
focus.
Default: True
session.autoRaiseDelay: integer
Adjusts the delay (in milli-sec) before focused windows will raise
when using the Autoraise option.
Default: 250
session.screen0.clickRaises: boolean
This setting allows a user to click anywhere on a window to bring
it on top of other windows. Otherwise, only the titlebar will work.
Default: True
session.screen0.workspacewarping: boolean
This setting enables a user to change workspaces by dragging a
window across the edge of the screen.
Default: True
session.screen0.showwindowposition: boolean
Setting this resource to True shows the user, in a little window,
the exact position of the application window while the user is
dragging it. Allows a precise placement of windows on a screen.
Default: True
session.screen0.defaultDeco: string
This specifies the default window decorations, according to the
same options available to the [Deco] option in the 'apps' file,
described in fluxbox-apps(5).
Default: NORMAL
session.screen0.menuDelay: integer
This sets the delay in milliseconds for submenus to open when you
hover over them or to close when you hover over another item.
Default: 200
session.screen0.focusNewWindows: boolean
This sets whether or not new windows will become focused
automatically.
Default: True
session.screen0.workspaceNames: names
Here is where the user can name their workspaces, in a
comma-delimited list. However it is recommended to use the tool
available in the Workspace Menu to set these.
Default: one, two, three, four
session.screen0.edgeSnapThreshold: integer
When moving a window across your screen, fluxbox is able to have it
'snap' to the edges of the screen and other windows for easy
placement. This variable tells fluxbox the distance (in pixels) at
which the window will jump to the edge.
Default: 10
session.screen0.windowPlacement: strategy
This resource specifies where to place new windows when not
otherwise specified (by the program or the 'apps' file, for
example).
Available strategies:
o RowSmartPlacement: tries to place windows in rows without
overlapping
o ColSmartPlacement: tries to place windows in columns
without overlapping
o CascadePlacement: places windows below the titlebar of the
previous one
o UnderMousePlacement: places new windows underneath the
mouse
Default: RowSmartPlacement
session.screen0.rowPlacementDirection: LeftToRight|RightToLeft
These settings control the direction in which windows are tiled
using the RowSmartPlacement and ColSmartPlacement strategies
described above.
Default: LeftToRight
session.screen0.colPlacementDirection: TopToBottom|BottomToTop
These settings control the direction in which windows are tiled
using the RowSmartPlacement and ColSmartPlacement strategies
described above.
Default: TopToBottom
session.screen0.fullMaximization: boolean
If this setting is enabled, windows will maximize over the toolbar,
slit, and any other window that creates a strut, no matter what
their individual settings are.
Default: False
session.screen0.opaqueMove: boolean
When moving a window, setting this to True will draw the window
contents as it moves (this is nasty on slow systems). If False, it
will only draw an outline of the window border.
Default: True
session.screen0.workspaces: integer
Set this to the number of workspaces the users wants.
Default: 4
session.cacheLife: minutes
This tells fluxbox how long unused pixmaps may stay in the X
server's memory.
Default: 5
session.cacheMax: KbSize
This tells fluxbox how much memory it may use to store cached
pixmaps on the X server. If your machine runs short of memory, you
may lower this value.
Default: 200
session.colorsPerChannel: integer
This tells fluxbox how many colors to take from the X server on
pseudo-color displays. A channel would be red, green, or blue.
fluxbox will allocate this variable ^ 3 and make them always
available. Value must be between 2-6. When you run fluxbox on an
8bpp display, you must set this resource to 4.
Default: 4
session.doubleClickInterval: integer
Adjust the delay in milliseconds between mouse clicks for fluxbox
to consider a double click.
Default: 250
session.forcePseudoTransparency: boolean
If you have Xorg's composite extension enabled, this setting will
force the menu, windows, toolbar, and slit to use
pseudo-transparency instead of true transparency.
Default: False
session.ignoreBorder: boolean
This configures the ability to move windows by dragging the border.
Default: False
session.tabPadding: integer
This specifies the spacing between tabs.
Default: 0
session.tabsAttachArea: Window|Titlebar
With this set to 'Window', windows may be grouped by dragging one
tab with the middle mouse button and dropping it anywhere on
another window. With 'Titlebar', the user must drop the tab on the
target window's titlebar.
Default: Window
session.titlebar.{left|right}: buttons
The buttons or icons to place in the titlebar of decorated windows.
You may specify any number, space-delimited.
The available options are:
Close Maximize MenuIcon Minimize Shade Stick
Default left: Stick MenuIcon
Default right: Shade Minimize Maximize Close
All of the location resources following require a pathname to their
specific files. This is where you can specify different files. Most of
the defaults will be located in the user's \~/.fluxbox directory.
session.appsFile: location
Location of persistent application settings, or the 'apps' file.
See the Remember... item in the Window Menu section above or
fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
session.groupFile: location
Deprecated, auto-grouping is now done in the 'apps' file, see
fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
session.keyFile: location
Location of the keyboard mapping settings, or the 'keys' file. See
fluxbox-keys(5) for details.
session.menuFile: location
Location of the Root Menu file. See fluxbox-menu(5) for details.
session.slitlistFile: location
Location of the file used to remember slit client ordering. See
SLIT above for details.
session.styleFile: location
Location of the currently selected style. See fluxbox-style(5) for
details.
session.styleOverlay: location
Location of the style overlay file. See fluxbox-style(5) for
details.
session.screen0.windowMenu: location
This optionally specifies the location of a user-defined window
menu. If left blank, it will use \~/.fluxbox/windowmenu.
Default: blank
ENVIRONMENT
HOME
fluxbox uses $HOME to find the .fluxbox/init file and to resolve
style file and -directory names.
DISPLAY
When no other display was given on the command line, fluxbox will
start on the display specified by this variable.
fluxbox can also take advantage of other environment variables if they
are set before fluxbox is started. For example, if $TERM is set, then
it will be available whenever fluxbox uses the shell, such as the
'keys' file ExecCommand or the root menu's [exec] tag. See
fluxbox-keys(5) and fluxbox-menu(5) for details.
The 'keys' file also provides two commands that can alter the current
environment of fluxbox: SetEnv and Export. Any changes made by these
commands will also affect the environment as seen by fluxbox and all
child processes started after that point. See fluxbox-keys(5) for
details.
For more information about environment variables in general, see your
shell's manual.
SIGNALS
fluxbox responds to the following signals:
o SIGHUP fluxbox loads the configuration.
o SIGUSR1 Forces reloading of configuration.
o SIGUSR2 Forces reloading of menu file.
AUTHORS
fluxbox is written and maintained by Henrik Kinnunen <fluxgen at
fluxbox org>, Simon Bowden <rathnor at fluxbox org>, Mathias Gumz
<akira at fluxbox org>, and Mark Tiefenbruck <mark at fluxbox org>,
with contributions and patches merged from many individuals around the
world.
Blackbox was written and maintained by Brad Hughes <blackbox at alug
org> and Jeff Raven <jraven at psu edu>.
This manpage is the combined work of:
o Jim Ramsay <i.am at jimramsay com> (>fluxbox-1.0.0)
o Curt Micol <asenchi at asenchi com> (>fluxbox-0.9.11)
o Tobias Klausmann <klausman at users sourceforge net>
(<fluxbox-0.9.11)
o Grubert <grubert at users sourceforge net> (fluxbox)
o Matthew Hawkins <matt at mh dropbear id au> (blackbox)
o Wilbert Berendsen <wbsoft at xs4all nl> (blackbox)
o Numerous other languages could be available if someone jumps in.
ONLINE DOCUMENTATION
The Official fluxbox website: http://www.fluxbox.org
The Official fluxbox wiki: http://www.fluxbox-wiki.org
Many compatible themes: http://tenr.de
BUGS
If you find any bugs, please visit the #fluxbox irc channel on
irc.freenode.net or submit them to the bug tracker at
http://sf.net/projects/fluxbox . Or you may subscribe to one of the
mailinglists. More information can be found on the official website.
SEE ALSO
fluxbox-apps(5) fluxbox-keys(5) fluxbox-style(5) fluxbox-menu(5)
fluxbox-remote(1) fbsetroot(1) fbsetbg(1) fbrun(1) startfluxbox(1)